294 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



draggled wretches we had been accustomed to 

 see; they are now lively, happy birds with a 

 splendid gloss on their feathers and beaks as 

 bright a yellow as the blackbird's. Finally, in 

 April they left us, not going in a body, but flock 

 by flock, day after day, until by the end of the 

 month all were gone back to their homes in the 

 north all but the two or three to half a dozen 

 pairs in each village. And these few that stay be- 

 hind are new colonists in West Cornwall. 



